How is the collaborative process financially different than traditional divorce?

One huge difference between traditional and collaborative divorce is what happens with the first $10,000. In a traditional divorce, each party typically pays a retainer to their attorney for $5,000, which covers a filing, the answer to a filing, and maybe mandatory disclosure. Yet nobody knows who’s picking the children up from school on Tuesday or who’s paying next month’s mortgage. Temporaries are not in place, even after spending that kind of money.

In a collaborative situation, at the first meeting the team has signed all the agreements and decided all the temporaries. They don’t leave the first meeting without a temporary parenting plan and a temporary financial plan, which is hugely important when it comes to managing stress levels for a divorcing couple.

Harriett Fox is a CPA and divorce mediator located in Miami, Florida. She uses her mediation skills to settle cases in various areas of commercial and civil litigation, while applying her forensic accounting abilities to complex financial analyses in cases of family, commercial, and civil litigation.

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